Duncan Chater, Global Chief Revenue Officer, Bloomberg MediaIn an era where brand videos can feel interchangeable, Bloomberg Media has found a secret to success by storytelling with impact. Differentiation from the world of ‘slop’ and ‘noise’ arrives from having a clear point of view, cultural specificity, and a human-led, editorial approach that honours truth and empathy over fleeting algorithmic tricks.
Duncan Chater, Global Chief Revenue Officer, Bloomberg Media spoke to Campaign Middle East about all this and more, mapping out how Bloomberg Media sees video as a growth engine; how artificial intelligence (AI) can sharpen efficiency without replacing human insight; and how brands can balance reach with owned spaces to deepen relationships rather than merely chase impressions.
Across the discussion, Chater maintains three through-lines: stories must be grounded in real insight and audience reality; they must feel culturally relevant to local contexts; and narrative craft — an authentic, person-centred arc — should sit at the heart of every production.
Differentiation, distinctiveness and areas that have no room for compromise
To set the scene, Bloomberg Media’s Chater explained an approach that hinges on purpose rather than format.
“What makes a brand video stand out is having a clear point of view. The most effective brand films we see start with a clear idea of why this story deserves to exist. Too many brand videos look and sound the same because they’re built for algorithms, not for audiences,” Chater said.
Findings of Bloomberg Media’s recent Brand Accelerator research – described as a a living tool that measures hard-to-reach global elite audience perspectives on hundreds of brands, culminating in a ranking system and diagnostic assessment – reinforce this notion. The research reveals that business decision-makers engage most with stories that feel human, authentic, and relevant — content that helps them navigate real challenges, not just hear brand messages.
Chater adds, “The data is consistent across regions and roles: people remember people. Emotional, human-first storytelling outperforms product-first messaging every time.”
According to the research findings, nearly 30 per cent of surveyed global business decision-makers say they stay engaged when a story connects emotionally, while only 10 per cent respond to expert-led narratives and just 5 per cent respond to product demos.
“Trust follows the same pattern,” Chater explains, citing findings that state, “37 per cent of leaders say they trust real client stories over corporate statements, and 40 per cent remember real people personally impacted long after they’ve seen the content. Even in B2B marketing, human-first storytelling consistently outperforms product-first messaging.”
When asked about aspects that leaders must absolutely not compromise on in this context, Chater alluded to a clear perspective, cultural relevance and narrative craft.
Chater explained, “A clear perspective is built on real and insight-driven understanding of the subject, the audience, and the moment the brand is stepping into. Cultural relevance means making sure the story feels true to its audience and local context. The more specific it is, the more universal it becomes. Finally, narrative craft is a human story arc with context, not a campaign message disguised as one.”
He added, “It’s easy to find content that has been over-engineering the mechanics, optimising for hooks and captions before they’ve earned the right to the viewer’s attention. The audience feels that. Culturally nuanced storytelling will outperform any format trick because it builds credibility and, ultimately, trust. When we evaluate creative work, we stress-test it for distinctiveness and intent. If it could have come from anyone in the category, it’s not distinctive enough.”
Growth through video and AI as an accelerator
Video is not only a channel for connection; it’s a scalable growth engine when used with intention. Chater explained how Bloomberg Media’s breadth — linear, streaming, and digital — gives it both scale and context.
He said, “Our video offering spans live content, original series, and shorts, with average monthly viewership climbing to more than 60 million to date. Explainers and short formats are powerful for discovery but harder to scale in terms of brand affinity unless they ladder into a larger narrative. What endures are consistent editorial franchises, formats that become part of a viewer’s rhythm, not a one-off campaign.”
Through the conversation, Chater called video “an extremely versatile and scalable solution for so many brand and communication goals” before discussing the need to frame AI as an accelerator rather than a replacement.
Talking about AI, Chater said, “The biggest efficiencies we’re seeing are in audience insights, ad tech, and workflow acceleration. On the advertising side, contextual video targeting powered by live closed captioning across Bloomberg TV has unlocked new precision at scale. We can dynamically match advertisers with content in the moment it airs. The through-line is privacy-forward and accuracy-first. AI is a tool in service of better relationships.”
Bloomberg Media’s platform strategy: Build, don’t just rent
The risk of platform dependency is real, and Bloomberg Media’s stance is to stay agile while relentlessly reinforcing its owned ecosystem.
Chater explained the benefits of having discovery designed into the product, rather than dependency on third-party distribution alone.
He said, “Our approach has been to stay nimble but stick to our principles. The strategy we set a couple of years ago to diversify across platforms while strengthening our owned ecosystem is now proving to be great. We’re focused on making Bloomberg.com a true destination, not a distribution endpoint. Enhancing site search is a good example of that: we’ve built a smarter, more useful experience for subscribers rather than leaving discovery entirely to third parties. It’s about creating an ecosystem that deepens direct relationships with our audiences.”
“The key is to design for discovery, not dependency,” he added.
This reflects in Bloomberg’s recent YouTube TV distribution agreement in the US, which expands audience reach for Bloomberg TV and Bloomberg Originals.
“The goal is to feed people back into an ecosystem we control, where we can deepen engagement and deliver on the subscriber experience,” Chater said, before offering a line of advice for marketers. “For brands, the same rule applies – use platforms for reach but invest in owned spaces for depth. You want to build equity, not just impressions.”
Empathy without tokenism: authentic craft
Operationalising empathy requires those narrating the story to stay close to truth and to the lived realities of audiences, not resorting to templates.
Proximity to truth, tapping into empathy, and sharing a story with context — global and local in equal measure — is what helps the work resonate with audiences.
“Empathy in storytelling is about proximity to truth. For us, that comes from being global and local at once. Our regional Bloomberg Media Studios teams, from London to Dubai to Singapore, work with clients who live the stories they’re telling. That proximity keeps the work grounded,” Chater said. “Empathy also shows up in craft: diverse casting, authentic settings, and pacing that reflects local rhythm rather than global homogeneity. The return is long-term trust and affinity, which ultimately drives business performance.”
Sharing a practical nugget of wisdom, Chater added, “Operationally, it means starting with real audience insight, not assumptions. For example, our campaigns with Red Sea Global and Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development succeeded because they reflected how people in the region see progress, through sustainability, heritage and innovation.”
Takeaways from the conversation with Bloomberg Media’s CRO
What emerges from Chater’s responses is a vision of storytelling that excises the need to chase the next viral hook and replaces it with a more durable, human-centric approach.
Brand narratives that speak to real challenges, that resonate with local contexts, and that are built on genuine editorial craft are what endure — especially when backed by a flexible, multi-platform strategy and tools that respect privacy and trust.
In Bloomberg Media’s world, growth sits not in a single channel or jumping on the bandwagon of a trending gimmick, but rather in an ecosystem where discovery feeds loyalty, and empathy compounds relevance over time.
If we think of the brand video as a voyage, Chater’s map is clear: start with a point of view that matters; tell stories that feel human and culturally precise; build editorial franchises that become true destinations, not distribution endpoints; use AI to streamline and sharpen, not to replace human judgment; and invest in owned spaces that deepen relationships with people.
It’s a craft as much as a strategy — a lighthouse that guides brands away from the rocks of platform gymnastics toward a beacon of authentic connection. The truth is that the most memorable narratives aren’t the loudest ads; they’re the ones that feel like a conversation you’d want to continue long after the screen fades to black.
